Don't Hold It Against Me
by smc-27
Summary: She stops feeling bad when she remembers that whole 'werewolves can kill vampires with one bite' thing, and pulls herself away from him, smiles a little bit and pours him some more bourbon. Tyler/Caroline. Oneshot.


**A/N:** I cannot get enough of them. I really hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

**... ... ...**

She feels bad, as she hugs him, for leading him to believe she's alone, too. Sure, she's a 17 year old vampire and she'll be one for, you know, ever, but he's a werewolf and he doesn't know any more of 'his kind' exist. Or whatever.

She knows it has to suck. She knows it sucks for her.

Then she stops feeling bad when she remembers that whole 'werewolves can kill vampires with one bite' thing and pulls herself away from him, smiles a little bit and pours him some more bourbon.

... ... ...

She debates telling Stefan and Damon. They'll probably figure it out eventually. She figures keeping it to herself for a little while can't really hurt much, can it?

After three days of him ignoring her at school, she grabs his hand hard enough that he lets out this painful noise that'd be a little pathetic if she didn't know just how strong she really is.

"What? Damn, Caroline," he says, wrenching his hand away and glaring at her.

"Stop avoiding me!" she hisses. He rolls his eyes like she's just the needy girl she was...until recently. "Tyler, this is..."

"Look, you saw me _cry_, okay?" he whispers, looking around to make sure no one can hear them. There's not even anyone else around. "It's not cool."

"It's fine!" She smiles and he narrows his eyes. "I cry all the time."

"You're a _girl_."

"So? Who cares? I just...I could...We could help each other." She shrugs one shoulder and looks at him, and he tilts his head and shakes it just slightly.

Yes, she's just given him the admittedly adorable look that has always, always gotten her her way.

"You're evil," he tells her. She actually laughs and he cracks a bit of a smile. "Fine. Whatever."

He walks away and she texts him before he's even at the end of the hall. She hears him whisper, "Goddamn," and laughs. When he turns to look at her, she just taps her ear and giggles when he looks totally confused.

She'll have to explain all that to him later.

... ... ...

Her mom's working the night shift and Tyler shows up at her door looking really angry and like he might break something at any moment.

"Alcohol," he says when she opens the door. All she does is nod and lead him to the living room. She doesn't even really remember she was totally ready for bed until he makes a comment about her wardrobe. "Nice slippers. Just about the most innocent thing about you."

She looks to the fuzzy white slippers on her feet. "I'm innocent," she says, giving him a pout over her shoulder. He laughs. It makes her feel good that she can take his mind off whatever has him flexing his fists every few seconds. "Tyler..."

"Shut up," he says, closing his eyes and shaking his head. "Just...drinks first. Okay? Drinks first."

She nods and heads to the liquor cabinet, grabs a bottle of bourbon (Damon is pretty good at keeping her stocked, which is nice) and a couple glasses. Tyler's got his finished before she even pours her own. She's worried. There are a million things he could have found out. Google is crazy, and there's all sorts of stuff on the internet. What if he found out about the connection between vampires and werewolves, what they can do to one another? What if he...

"Mason," he says after finishing his second glass of bourbon. "He's dead."

She just looks up at him through her lashes and breathes through her nose, because if she opens her mouth even a little bit she'll just tell him everything she knows and she's terrified of what that would mean and what would happen after.

But his face falls and she guesses she didn't do a very good job of hiding anything.

"You knew," he says, like an accusation. "You _knew_?"

"Tyler, I..."

He stalks towards her and before she can do anything about it, he pushes her hard against the wall. Her glass falls from her hand and shatters on the ground, and despite the fact that she could probably destroy him with a few simple moves, she closes her eyes and winces. He's holding her arm, just above her elbow, and looking way pissed off.

"How did you know?" he asks.

She's not going to tell him that. She can't. Sure, they've hung out a bit recently and talked about what they are and what that means for either of them, but her loyalties lay with Stefan and Damon, as strange as that is to say. She hasn't told them any details about Tyler, either, nothing they don't need to know. He doesn't need to know that she knows exactly how Mason died or where his body ended up or anything like that.

"I just know things," she says quietly. He squeezes her arm and she hates that, so she shoves him away and he falls back onto the sofa. "And don't pull that with me. You need to control your anger."

"Shut up, Care," he says angrily, brow still furrowed. "How the hell could you not tell me?"

She takes a breath and sits next to him. She'll worry about the broken glass later. "I just thought it'd be easier if you didn't know," she tells him, and he glares at her. "You've got some stuff going on."

He laughs, but it's kind of humourless. "Might help to know what killed him, don't you think?"

"No," she answers without missing a beat. "That's not going to be you. You won't be like him."

Mostly because he's not going to hook up with an evil bitch vampire.

"Don't get all Dr. Phil on me," he warns her seriously, narrowing his eyes.

"I'm not, you jerk." He smiles a little bit again. "Just trust me."

He turns to look at her and it's like he's trying to read her mind. She doesn't know everything there is to know about werewolves, but she's pretty sure they can't do that.

"Why does it always feel like you know way more than I do?" he asks. She realizes he genuinely wants an answer.

She just shrugs her shoulder and smiles. "Because I do."

He stays all night, and her mom gives her a weird look when she comes home. Caroline thinks it's more of a _'why is a boy in our house at 6:30 a.m.?'_ look and not at all a _'why are you socializing with mortals?'_ look, so she ignores it and turns back to the television and the movie they've been watching.

"I think your mom hates me," he whispers when her mom's gone upstairs.

Caroline shakes her head. "She hates everyone right now."

He laughs. "Except you?"

She bites the inside of her lip, but forces a smile. Some days she doesn't even know if that's true.

... ... ...

There's this party thing and she spends most of the night by his side and she can tell by the way Damon's looking at her from across the room that he's listening to she and Tyler's entire conversation. She's lucky they're just being stupid and laughing about some of the people walking around right now.

Damon grabs her arm and holds her too tightly when she's alone and on her way to the washroom.

"What are you doing with him?"

She doesn't really know, to be honest, and she wants to tell him it's none of his business, but she knows she can't get away with saying that.

"Nothing." She figures it's a safe option. He apparently doesn't, because he just stares at her. "We're just...We're both different."

"Tell me he doesn't know about you." His eyes are closed like if she says Tyler knows, that changes everything. She doesn't respond, just looks at him and waits for whatever he's going to say. "Idiot."

He shakes her arm a little before letting it go and walking away.

When she goes back to Tyler, he furrows his brow and looks towards where Damon is talking with Stefan, Elena and Bonnie.

"What's his problem?" he asks.

She rolls her eyes and finishes the last of the drink he'd been holding for her. "What's _not_ his problem?"

The thing is, she knows how much she needs Damon and Stefan. Maybe she's screwed up by telling Tyler, but she thinks she needs him, too.

... ... ...

She has a run-in with Matt where he questions what she's doing spending all her time with Tyler and the Salvatores. She reminds him that they're broken up and she doesn't really have to give him any sort of answer, but he calls her on that and tells her he's still basically in love with her and that has to count for something.

A few weeks ago, this probably would have made her crazy and made her question why she'd even broken up with him in the first place. She knows the reason was good at the time, but now she thinks she's got more of them.

Tyler watched the whole thing, and when they're at his place that night doing Biology homework (because no, she's assured him, being a werewolf and a vampire doesn't excuse them from doing Bio labs) he lays back on his bed and closes his eyes.

"So why'd you break up with Matt?" he asks out of nowhere. "Dude's basically got rings bought for you and Elena. Girls always dump him and he's the good guy. What's with that?"

"Nothing."

He opens his eyes and looks at her. She doesn't give one word answers. Ever. It's just not like her. When she does, everyone knows there's something wrong.

"Come on," he says, looking at her as if to remind her that they know one another's biggest secrets and a few more isn't going to hurt anyone.

She sighs and looks him dead in the eye. "He's...human."

"So?"

She tilts her head. "So, I'm not. I'm not even alive. I'll never age. It's...It's not like we could...It just doesn't work. It wouldn't."

He sits up and rests his elbows on his knees. "Plus, there's temptation and stuff, right?" he asks. She doesn't think he's doing it to be a jerk.

"Yeah, kind of."

He just looks at her until she looks away. "But you don't want a taste of this, do you?"

She laughs at how it sounds, like it's an average question anyone could ask one of their friends. "I kind of want a taste of everything. That's why it's hard to control."

There's a brief pause, and he's just looking at her. She's just about to ask what he's doing when he says, "show me your vampy face again," and smiles like a little boy.

"What?" she shrieks. "No!"

"C'mon, Caroline. I wanna see."

"You sound like a four year old right now." He pouts at her and she can feel herself giving in. The thing is, she's self-conscious about it. Only a few people have ever seen it, and maybe he's one of them, but he was a little preoccupied with his own issues at the time. "I don't want you to...It's not like it's pretty or anything."

"Whatever. I'm not gonna judge you," he says, shrugging his shoulder.

She takes a deep breath and he smiles and she knows she's going to do it. She closes her eyes and focuses and can feel the urges coming, her teeth throbbing, and when she opens her eyes, he's just staring at her. She closes her mouth and feels the skin around her eyes go slack again, the blood in her veins even out and distribute evenly, properly again.

"That's creepy as hell," he says, but he's laughing so she's not offended. "What does it feel like?"

She doesn't know why he's suddenly so interested in all this stuff, but it probably has to do with the fact that he's got his own things he's working through and he wants to compare.

"It's, like...Okay," she says, shifting in her seat before moving over and sitting next to him on his bed. "You know when you get really mad? And you, like, have to try _so_ hard not to scream?" He nods. "It's like that, only _way_ more intense."

"Yeah," he says, nodding as he looks at her. "Yeah, I get that." She smiles at him, because it's nice that they can talk like this sometimes. "You're still creepy."

She gasps and shoves at his shoulder. "Shut up!"

He laughs and looks down, and even though she's never really needed it, she's reminded that he's really kind of super hot.

"I was kidding. You're not that bad," he says, pulling his book onto his lap again.

She smiles to herself and they go back to work. She's pretty sure that's the nicest thing he's ever said to her.

... ... ...

"So, wait. You'll always be this hot?" he asks after a few drinks in her bedroom one night. He's on her bed and she likes him there. "Like, forever?"

She bites her lip and pushes her thigh against his. "You think I'm hot?"

"Shut up. Yeah."

"Really?" He rolls his eyes and raises his brow and smirks at her like she knows has worked on a whole lot of girls before it ever started working on her.

"You know you are," he says to her in a really hot voice she's having trouble not dwelling on.

He tips back his drink and she watches his neck move as he swallows.

She likes that _he_ knows.

... ... ...

Together, they decide that the old Lockwood estate is probably the best place to go on the full moon. If it was good enough for Mason, it's good enough for Tyler. And Tyler has something Mason never did. He's got someone to help him. He's got Caroline and her, "kickass, awesome vampy skills." She thinks he's mostly joking when he says that, but there's definitely some truth to it.

He promises he can take care of everything on his own, that she just has to show up and make sure the chains are in place. She, of course, refuses to only do that much. He's already got the locks and everything, and she brings a pretty silver necklace and steals the keys from him, puts them around her neck and totally sees him smiling even though she knows he thinks she can't.

The woods are really creepy and he remembers she was always kind of scared of them. He tries to make fun of her, but she just reminds him that she kind of has some different ways to defend herself now, and that seems to shut him up.

Once they're inside, she makes sure the flashlights they brought are giving enough of a glow to actually work. He's sitting on the cold, stone bench in the room and she sits next to him.

"Are you scared?" she asks, even though she already knows the answer and he probably doesn't want to say it. If he does, though, she thinks that's good for him.

"This is fucked."

She laughs humourlessly. She knows it is. She knows how it feels to have no control over what's going to happen to you. She's killed someone. Well, so has he, she supposes, but it's a little different. His was an accident. Hers was to...

It was different.

"You'll be okay," she promises. She puts her hand on his back, and he won't look at her, but he nods. "I promise."

"Don't promise shit." He finally looks at her, and maybe it's the room, but his eyes look darker than ever. It startles her a little bit and she wonders if maybe it's not the room at all. "We don't...neither of us..."

"Tyler, don't...Just trust me." A month ago, he would have laughed in her face. A month ago they wouldn't have even been talking.

"This blows," he mumbles as she gets up and grabs the first set of chains.

She watches as he slings them over his arms and sets them into place. There are rings hooked to the walls and they already came here to see how that would work, so he pushes one of the chains through and attaches it to the other. It all looks really heavy and complicated, and she doesn't know how he's going to be feeling after this, so she's trying to pay really close attention so she can remove the chains later.

"Does it hurt?" she asks out of nowhere. He just glares.

"Give me that lock."

She does as he tells her to, and clicks the lock closed, gives it a 'gentle' tug. "Damn, Caroline! _That_ hurts!" Maybe it wasn't as gentle as she thought. She smiles cutely and pats his chest. "Okay. I think...we're good."

He doesn't sound confident at all. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Go."

"Tyler, I'm not going to..."

"_Caroline_," he cuts her off sternly. "Get out of here."

She shakes her head. It's getting closer and closer to midnight, but she's not just going to leave him here like this. "I'll be outside," she says, stepping closer.

"Go home," he tells her. "Seriously. There's nothing...I'm fine. I'll..."

She can't help herself. She puts her hands on his cheeks and leans forward, pressing her lips to his before he can say anything else and pretend he doesn't need or want her to stay close by.

And as soon as she's kissing him, she realizes just how badly she's wanted it recently. He's got these lips that...And his skin is so soft, and he starts kissing her back immediately, which just makes the whole thing even better. If they weren't on some kind of timeline, here, she wouldn't want to stop. When she hears him moan, she doesn't realize it's not the good kind until she pulls away and he says something.

"Why would you do that when my hands are tied?" he asks. She laughs softly and rests her forehead against his. "Would you just go?"

She moves away from him and rests her hand over the side of his neck. His pulse is racing and she thinks that kiss has very little to do with it. "I'm scared," she admits, not looking at him.

He scoffs. He's giving her a shitty look. "Suck it up, Princess. Look at _me_."

It actually manages to make her smile, and she kisses the side of his mouth before she grabs the flashlights and rushes out of the room and up the stairs.

She tries really hard not to freak out when she starts to hear sounds coming from where he is. She tries to tune it out and listen to other things, like the birds in the woods and whatever else she can hear, but it's really hard not to run back in there and make sure he's okay. She also has to listen for footsteps and everything else. Honestly, she wouldn't put it past Damon or Stefan to try and find her tonight. She hasn't really made it a secret that she's spending most of her time with Tyler when she's not with them or at school.

The sun starts coming up, and from their research she knows it's probably safe to go back down and remove the chains.

She doesn't expect to find him slumped back against the wall with his eyes closed.

"Tyler!" she shouts, rushing down the rest of the stairs and over to him. "No, no." She fumbles with the chain on her neck to get the keys, and pushes them hard into their locks. "Tyler. Wake up, you idiot!" She pushes the chains down off his shoulders, cuts her finger on one of the rocks on the wall and doesn't even care. He falls once she's gotten rid of all the chains, but she puts her arms around him until they're both sitting on the ground. She takes his face in her hands, slaps him gently. "_Tyler_."

"Caroline," he mumbles, eyes fluttering open.

"Oh, my god," she says, pulling him against her chest. "Don't scare me. Are you okay?"

It's probably a stupid question, but he nods against her and brings his arms up around her. She doesn't really know how long they sit there like that, but they go out and he buys her breakfast and he looks totally like himself again after that, colour in his face and everything.

She drops him off at his house and he turns to her before he opens the door. "Hey." She glances at him and wonders if he's going to mention the fact that they kissed before, you know, everything. "Thanks."

She smiles and nods and he gets out, and she knows he's obviously dealing with some things.

Maybe it's selfish, but she wants to be one of them.

... ... ...

It's three days before she gets pissed at him and annoyed at him not calling her and shows up at his house. She's totally polite to his mom, but she knows Mrs. Lockwood likes to chat and Caroline just really doesn't have the time to do it right now. Not when she's got to lay into Tyler for being a total jerk.

"Mom, pretty sure she's not here to talk about the Blakes' landscaping," Tyler chuckles.

Caroline smiles despite herself, and she knows he'll deny it, but he's a total mama's boy. Maybe because his dad was such a spectacular asshole. She hates speaking poorly of the dead (and she knows Matt already crossed that line not too long ago), but it's true. It's no secret Mr. Lockwood had a temper. Now Caroline realizes why, but still.

She follows him to his room and before he can even say hello, she's laying into him, because she's been mulling this over for three days and it's time he realizes what a dick he's being.

She tells him that, plus a bunch of other things, and he just stands there and looks at her as she talks.

"You're _such_ a jerk, Tyler, seriously. I've been so good to you. Do you even _know_ how good I've been to you? I don't need to do any of this crap, and yet I'm here, helping you, like, learn and evolve and not be a moron about everything. All you do to me in return is kiss me and then not talk to me for three days after the scariest night of my life!" she shouts. "Okay, not the scariest, but that just tells you how messed up every..."

Then he's pulling her to him by the waist and cutting her off by kissing her, and really, that's not the worst way ever for this whole thing to go. It wasn't one of the scenarios she thought up earlier, but it works. _Well_.

"Shut up, Caroline," he says against her lips, voice soft and really sexy. He slips his hand beneath her shirt at the small of her back and slides it upward. "Just shut up."

"I thought...You were ignoring me."

He shakes his head and smirks at her and pulls back just enough that she can see. "You chained me up and kissed me. I mean, damn, Care."

She bites her bottom lip and he watches. "I did do that," she admits needlessly.

"Yeah. And I told you...I mean...Why'd it take you three days to come over here?" he asks.

She doesn't realize he's joking until after she's punched him on the arm.

She kisses the bruise later, when he's laying on his bed and she's straddling his hips.

... ... ...

She keeps those keys around her neck and he doesn't say anything about it, but she knows he knows they're there, because they're at school and she's at her locker and he comes by and runs his hand over the chain at the back of her neck.

... ... ...

She doesn't know who it is that suggests it, really, or how they all end up at the Salvatore house, but everyone but Matt is there. Stefan and Damon, Elena, Jenna, Alaric, Bonnie and Jeremy (who think they're hiding this thing, but Caroline can totally see it) and she and Tyler.

She's not sure who brings out the football, but all of a sudden Stefan's throwing a pass to Tyler and saying something about picking teams, and the only person exempt from playing is Jenna, because she's still nursing her wounds.

So it's the girls and Alaric against the rest of the boys, and she's pulling her hair into a ponytail and trying really hard to avoid looking at Tyler, because he's staring at her, watching as she does it, and he looks really, really good standing there in his polo shirt and jeans.

At first, she's instructed by Ric (who, you know, actually knows about football) to stand and 'block' Damon, which basically leads to Damon's arms around her waist, hoisting her up and spinning her around, because this game is mostly fun and he actually knows how to have it when he's not being a total jerk. Then she runs down the 'field' (lawn) and tries to catch a pass from Elena, but the girl can't throw to save her life and Caroline trips and the two of them end up on opposite ends of the lawn, on their asses, laughing at themselves and each other. Tyler just happens to be closest, so he reaches his hand down and pulls her up, winks at her when no one else is looking.

The boys score a touchdown, and despite Elena trying to sweet talk them into giving the points back because Bonnie fell and that doesn't seem fair, they aren't budging, and then Caroline ends up with the ball in her hands before the next play when Ric hands it to her. He tells her she's on her own and to just pick the open person and throw to them. Apparently he's done 'coaching' them. They really are kind of hopeless.

Only no one is open.

Wow. The girls really, really suck at this game, and Stefan is blocking Ric from running down the field. Caroline doesn't know what to do other than to just start running, so that's what she does. Damon is preoccupied with Elena (shocking) and Jeremy is apparently mesmerized by something Bonnie's doing, which seems like an unfair advantage for the girls, but she's kind of surprised they didn't think of it sooner. Tyler has been helping Stefan contain Ric, but notices her running and takes off in her direction. He's coming right at her and she plows into him, knocking him easily to the ground without even stopping. She carries the ball into the end zone and squeals, spikes it, and the girls all rush towards her. Ric just laughs and gives her a high five, then helps Tyler up and makes sure he's okay.

They're all tired and cold, so they deem the game a tie and all head inside for drinks, and someone says something about ordering pizza. Tyler snags her around the waist and pulls her down a quiet hallway, pushes her up against the wall.

"Did you see me? I was awesome," she says proudly, and he laughs and nods.

"I think you were the one who plowed me over to get to the end zone." She giggles and presses her forehead against his. "You know, it's weirdly hot that you're stronger than me," he says, and it's that voice that does things to her she doesn't even want to admit.

In a flash, she's pushed him against the opposite wall and his eyes are dark (the good kind of dark) and his fingers are digging into her hips. "Really?"

He just kisses her and traces the seam of her lips with his tongue, pulls her flush against him and lets his hand slide down over the back pocket of her jeans. She only moves away from him when she hears footsteps coming in their general direction, and she slips into the bathroom close by and motions for him to go back and join everyone else.

Damon's waiting for her when she walks out of the bathroom after washing her hands and reapplying her lip gloss.

"Don't make out with your puppy in my house," he says.

She rolls her eyes and tries to move past him, but he grabs her elbow. "Damon, mind your business."

"You are my business," he tells her, and she looks at him, totally surprised that he's saying these words. "We're the same. That makes you my business."

"I'll be fine," she tells him. It's sweet, what he's saying, and she's thankful for it, but she doesn't need him to protect her from Tyler.

"What happens when he realizes what werewolves can do, Caroline?" he asks.

She pulls her arm away and glares at him. "I don't know," she admits. "I don't know. But...he wouldn't do that to me."

"It's not just about you," he says seriously. She'd call him selfish, but he's not. Not at this moment, anyway. "Whatever. Just keep him away from my rugs."

She rolls her eyes again, but his smirk actually makes her grin just a little bit. "Are you ever going to quit it with the dog jokes?"

He shakes his head. "Never."

... ... ...

She's totally caught off guard when Tyler walks into her room unannounced, without calling or knocking first. If she'd known he was coming, she would have already finished her...her...after dinner snack. She's sitting on her bed watching Gossip Girl and sipping from a rocks glass. Sipping blood.

He's just looking at her, mostly at the glass, and she wipes her lips just in case, and sets the glass down on her bedside table.

"Hi," she says nervously.

"Hey."

"I wasn't...Sorry. I know that's weird, or whatever."

He hesitates for a second, but shrugs his shoulder and heads over to sit down on her bed. "It's what you have to do, right?" She smiles a little bit and nods. She likes that he understands. "Where do you get...?"

He's never asked her before. She doesn't know what he thought until now, but her eyes go wide when she realizes what he's really asking.

"I don't...I don't hurt anyone," she promises. "It's not like that."

They talk about school for a while, and she chastises him for talking through her show, and he says it's weird that she has a crush on Nate when Chuck's the obvious awesome one, and she giggles against his shoulder and makes fun of him for knowing that. Some stupid show comes on after, and it's not one she watches, and he's slipping his hand under her shirt to rest on her stomach, teasing at her jaw with his lips. They've been doing a lot of this lately. She definitely doesn't have a problem with that. He moves on top of her and she lets him, parts her legs, and he groans against her lips.

"Hey," he says after a while. He's breathless and his thumb is brushing the underside of her breast. She doesn't know why he's stopping. "You want me?" She whimpers and nods, and he laughs a little and shakes his head. "Good to know, but...I meant...To taste. You could..."

"Tyler," she says quietly, pulling a face and shaking her head. "No."

"I kind of want to," he admits.

She knows about Stefan and Elena, and they both told her at the time that it was really sweet and sometimes sexy and she can't say she hasn't thought about it, what it'd be like, tasting Tyler. Just a drop and she'd know, and...

"I can't," she says. "I can't."

"Why not?"

She thinks he wants it more than he's letting on.

"Because. I know me. I get...I'd like it too much, and..."

He runs his hand through her hair and kisses her, then pushes her shirt off her shoulder and kisses her there, too. "I'm not afraid of you," he says. She didn't know how much she needed to hear that until he just said it. "You're not _that_ much stronger than me."

She laughs and says his name quietly. She honestly isn't sure about all this. "Just a little," she concedes after a few moments.

He smiles and kisses her again, and she can barely handle the anticipation. She can feel her face changing and the urge coming, and she'd usually fight the craving but he's just told her she doesn't have to. She bites his lip when he's kissing her and what she tastes is better than anything she's had in her life. He flinches, though, and makes a startled sound, so she pulls away as much as she can when he's still on top of her. She knows what she looks like right now so she turns her head away, hoping to hide herself from him.

"Hey," he says. She doesn't move. He puts his hand on her cheek and pushes her face back so she's looking at him again.

The first thing she sees is the red on his lips, and she knows she's breathing heavier than she has to, and holding him tighter.

"You're bleeding," she says, and tries to make it sound like a warning.

He kisses her again instead of leaving, though.

... ... ...

She catches sight of them in the mirror on his dresser one day. They'd decided to take a nap, but didn't quite make it to the laying down position, and her head is resting on his shoulder, his head against the top of hers. She's got her arm linked through his and he's angled towards her, eyes closed and still asleep.

She decides they look really good together. He murmurs something (she doesn't know what) in his sleep and nuzzles his chin against her hair.

She's falling in love with him.

... ... ...

"Do you think sex is gonna be, like, super intense?" he asks.

They're at school. He chooses now to discuss this.

"What?"

"I just mean...You know. Wait. Do _you_ know?"

"No," she says seriously, giving him a look that's meant to be a warning. "I haven't...since."

"Me neither," he tells her. She knows that. He's spent most of his time with her 'since'. They get to her locker and she's entering her combination, and he stands behind her with his hand on the wall above her shoulder and his chest pressed against her back. "We should."

She really can't argue that, and she doesn't have the presence of mind to push him away.

That's how Matt finds out, by seeing them in the hallway like that.

Naturally, she's pissed and doesn't talk to Tyler for nearly two hours. It shouldn't help (but it does) that he realizes going two hours without talking to her is weird and cause for him to give her this look that nearly makes her give into whatever it is he's trying to do.

Other than sleep with him. She's wanted that for a while anyway.

"Caroline," he says after school, catching up to her in the parking lot. "Come on. It's fine."

"Not really."

"Yeah, it is," he tells her seriously, brow furrowed. "What's the big deal? You guys haven't been together in a while."

"That's not the point!" she says, rolling her eyes dramatically.

"What's the point, Care?" he asks, holding her car door closed so she can't get in. "That he's not over you and you don't want him to be?"

She glares at him and has to breathe deeply in and out to keep herself from snapping. "Tyler," she says in a warning tone, and he sighs and looks away from her, shaking his head a little.

"Sorry. Shit."

She knows everyone is watching them, because gossip spreads like crazy and it's not like they've really been all that discreet anyway. In a way, she's surprised no one called them on this sooner. She doesn't care what most of them think.

She cares that they don't stay mad at one another.

"I don't want to argue about it," she says, and he nods. "This..._thing_...between us..."

"Yeah. I know."

She doesn't know _what_ he knows, because she doesn't know what _she_ knows. "What?"

He shrugs and steps closer. "It's good," he admits quietly. "Whatever."

She smiles wider than she means to, and she sees him trying to fight it (even though she can totally tell that he's happy she's not still mad at him). She puts her hand on his cheek and leans in to kiss him, because she figures most people already know, and if they don't, they're going to find out soon enough. There's also a little part of her that just wants to show him that she doesn't care if Matt is okay with them or not.

"I have plans tonight," she reminds him. He nods, but he's still looking at her lips and has his finger through the beltloop on her jeans. "I'll call you later."

"Yeah. Fine."

She spends the night with Damon and Stefan, and they both give her a hard time because apparently when you date a Lockwood and go public with it, the entire town knows before you even realize.

They don't say anything about the whole werewolf thing, and she wonders if they're finally starting to see what she's seen for a while; Tyler really isn't a bad guy here.

... ... ...

A few of them end up at the Grill, and Caroline and Tyler are playing pool (though she thinks he's paying more attention to the general area of her hips than he is the game) when Matt walks in alone and looks around before heading straight to the bar. She knows he's seen them, and Tyler acknowledges this fact by rolling his eyes and nudging her out of the way so he can take his shot. She sips her Diet Sprite and tries not to let this be awkward, even though almost everyone in the place knows the whole situation.

Tyler 'accidentally' backs her against the pool table and puts his hand on her hip while his other holds his cue. She doesn't really mean to smile, because he's just being a jackass, but he gives her this sexy little smirk and she can't help it. Plus, he's pressing against her in ways that are definitely not at all bad, and she's almost positive that if they were anywhere else, she'd just let him hoist her up and wrap her legs around his waist. God knows she wants to, especially since the other day when he basically propositioned her in the hallway.

"Are you doing this to be a jerk?" she asks.

"No," he almost laughs. "I'm doing this because you're hot and your ass looks sick in those jeans."

She laughs and shakes her head, and she lets him kiss her even though she probably shouldn't. What she wants to do is tell him to take her home, or somewhere, anywhere they can be alone without witnesses. His tongue slips into her mouth and she forgets to care.

"Good show, guys." She pulls away from Tyler and sees Matt standing there with his arms crossed. "Classy, Caroline."

"Back off, man," Tyler says. She squeezes his arm to try and tell him not to engage, but it doesn't work. He moves away from her and faces Matt.

"I'm just saying."

"Don't _just say_."

Tyler sounds mad, and she knows what happens when he gets mad. Matt takes another step into his space and Caroline moves quickly, puts her back to Matt and sets her hands on Tyler's chest as she looks him in the eye.

"Don't," she says quietly, pleadingly.

"He's being a dick!" Tyler says, trying to move away from her. She just fists his shirt in her hands and keeps him in his place. "He shouldn't be saying shit about you. Us. Whatever."

"Tyler." She's very aware that Matt (and everyone else) is watching, and Tyler just takes a deep breath to calm himself down like they've learned works for him. She's a little scared of what could happen if he got really, really angry, which she can see he's on his way to. "Okay?"

"Yeah. Fine. I'm good." She just stares at him and he blows out a breath. "I'm fine. Let's just go."

She feels bad about leaving Matt standing there and not giving him another look. For about a half a second. Then Tyler's hand is low on her back and he's pushing the door open for her. And yeah, Matt can be a little (or a lot) hurtful when he wants to be

They're halfway to his house before he says anything. It's a surprise that the word he says is, "sorry."

She slips her hand into his as he drives her car and doesn't question why he's not taking her home.

His mom is asleep in her room on the other side of the house, and Caroline doesn't exactly protest when he pushes her against the door and kisses her as soon as they're in his room. Maybe that's because this isn't the first time he's ever done it, or maybe because she wants it so badly.

And she can't help but think that him sticking up for her and getting all angry on her behalf is really super hot.

He murmurs something against her throat and she doesn't hear him, so she puts her hands on his shoulders and pushes gently. "What?" she asks. It comes out breathier than she wants it to.

"You picked me."

She blinks at him. "What?"

"You..." He sighs and she smiles, because she can always tell when he's annoyed with himself. It usually happens during moments like this, when she suspects he's about to get emotional or something. "You picked me. People don't pick me."

She realizes maybe he's right, and threads her fingers through his hair above his ear. "Tyler," she says quietly. He's avoiding her eyes. It's strange. So she says quietly, "I picked you," just to confirm it, and he slips his hands under her sweater.

"Good."

"Now stop talking and kiss me."

He doesn't need to be asked twice. He slips one hand into her hair while the other pushes her shirt up, and he laughs a little when she raises her arms so he can take it off her. She doesn't want to stall and mess around. She just wants him. He doesn't seem to have a problem with it, if the way his hand is moving up her torso is meant to tell her anything. She can barely think when he cups her breast at the same time he licks into her mouth. His hand moves down onto her ass and he gives it a squeeze; she smiles against his kiss, because he really is an ass man. She manages to find the buttons of his shirt and start undoing them, but she gets anxious or distracted and slips her hand inside to touch his skin. Obviously she's gotten him out of some of his clothes before, but she's very aware of where this is going. She might need it to go there. Quickly.

She finishes taking off his shirt, and as soon as it's on the floor she's pushing him backwards towards the bed. When he resists, she just pushes harder. She thinks she hears him say, "not fair," or something, but she doesn't really care, because they both want the same thing, and she just wants it laying down. When he finally reaches for the button of her jeans, it's when he's got the back of his legs pressed against his bed, and she grabs his belt to keep him from laying down just yet. She unbuckles it as he bends his head to kiss along her collarbone and pull down the straps of her bra, lets it fall away from her body.

She manages to get his jeans unzipped, though it isn't exactly easy to concentrate on that or anything else when he's doing such amazing things with his mouth and hands. He presses his fingers against her, between her legs, before he's unbuttoned or unzipped her jeans, and that doesn't seem fair at all.

"Tyler," she breathes out. He just keeps kissing her neck. "Tyler, come on."

The way he moves his hand does nothing to make her feel any better. He does it slowly, slides it upward along her fly until he gets to the button and pops it open. She could kill him for this, for teasing her. He finally undoes her fly and moves his hand over to her waist, then down her side, over her hip until he's somehow got both hands under the denim and he's pushing it down. She stumbles a little as she tries to kick them off (stupid skinny jeans) and he laughs softly even as his arm comes out to steady her.

Yeah, maybe she wants this a bit more than she's been letting on.

And how is he so calm right now? She's standing in front of him in nothing but a pair of pink panties and he's got his jeans undone, and he's just standing there like this is no big deal. The guy with the quick temper and sarcasm and sexual comments has nothing to say right now, nothing to do but let his hands move over her skin and his lips touch her body.

She'd complain or say something about it, but it's hard to speak without just telling him exactly how she likes it.

"You're blushing," he points out, cocky grin on his lips.

"I'm...shut up."

"What?" he asks, his voice almost too sexy to comprehend. "Turned on? Hot? How close are you to begging?"

She decides enough is enough, pushes his jeans to the floor and has him on his back faster than he can even think of stopping her. He just smiles up at her, seemingly unfazed by the fact they're still wearing any clothes at all, and flips them over so she's beneath him.

Oh, this could be fun.

She thinks of saying his name again, but he nudges her legs apart with his knee and she sucks in a breath when he moves his hand down her body and between her thighs. His touch is too light and she knows he knows it, given the cocky smirk he's wearing right now. He just runs gentle circles over her until she can't take it anymore.

"Beg," he says.

"No," she shoots back immediately. He gives her a little more pressure and then she's doing what she just told him she wouldn't. "_Tyler_. God. _Please_."

He looks a little too satisfied, but frankly, she's not satisfied enough to care. He kisses her, pulls away before she can draw his tongue into her mouth, and kisses his way down her body, pulling her underwear off her hips as he goes. It's really not fair that he's basically controlling this whole situation but she decides not to care as long as he just keeps doing it.

He licks a line up the inside of her thigh and her breath hitches as she snaps her eyes closed and presses her head back into the pillow. She wants to say his name again, but she thinks he likes it too much, and then he kisses her hip bone and she thinks he's totally bypassed the one place she wanted his lips. (Well, _everywhere_, but...)

Then he's between her legs and still wearing boxers and it's not even fair how badly she needs him naked. He kisses her hard and moves his hand back to where she wants it, groans when he feels her, and she whimpers a little bit, because even when she moves her hips against his hand it's not enough. He murmurs something in her ear, telling her she's sexy as hell and he's wanted this forever, and if they were anywhere else doing anything else, she'd think he doesn't even sound like himself.

When she moves her hands down to push at the waistband of his boxers, he doesn't stop her, and she uses her feet to push them down the rest of the way. Bending her knees, she stops him when he tries to move off her to reach for his bedside table.

"Care."

"You don't..." He presses against her. He's fighting dirty. "You don't need one."

She looks in his eyes like she's trying to remind him of the time she told him in passing that vampires can't exactly procreate. He kisses her a little gentler than he needs to, and she reaches between them to wrap her hand around him. He hisses and bites down softly on her jaw, says, "stop," but she doesn't.

He grabs her wrists, both of them in one of his hands, and pushes them up, holding her arms tightly above her head on the pillow. She's breathing so heavily it should freak her out, and when he looks at her it's like they both realize she could definitely move her arms if she wanted to, break his hold and do what she wanted. She doesn't, though, and then he kisses her and he's using his free hand to guide himself into her.

She probably says his name a little too loudly, and bites down on his palm (not like _that_) when he puts his hand over her mouth. Him doing that, though, frees up her hands and she digs her fingertips into his shoulder blades and rolls her hips just before he starts to move. He pulls out slowly, then slides back in and grips her hip in his hand.

"Jesus, Caroline," he mumbles against her cheek.

She skates her lips along the line of his jaw, because it's good to know this is just as intense for him as it is for her. She's always liked sex, but everything is really heightened now, and she doesn't know if that's because of what she is or who she's with. It probably matters, but it doesn't at this moment. Not when he moves his hand down her thigh to her knee and bends it more so he can go deeper. She wraps her other leg around his hip and presses her heel into the small of his back, and he groans and snaps his hips.

Before she can stop herself, she's saying, "so good," and, "again," and he's pretty quick to comply. She should know by now that there's really nothing she can do to offend him or scare him away.

She doesn't really know why it surprises her when he starts talking. Maybe because he's done basically none of it until this point.

"You don't even know how good you feel," he says, pushing into her as far as he can and staying there a moment before pulling back out. "So tight. So..._damn_." He lets out a grunt and grins himself against her again. "Best ever."

That shouldn't make her moan and throw her head back. Or maybe it should. She's not sure. All she knows is that she's probably a lot closer than she should be at this point, and maybe he can tell, too, because he slows down and kisses her gently, just barely moving. It's definitely more intimate than he realizes, or he wouldn't be doing it. The thing is, she's noticed he treats her completely differently than he treats other girls, other people. She knows he cares about her. He hasn't said it, but it's obviously true.

Part of her wants to roll them over so she's on top. The other part of her loves the fact that he's treating her like this and acting like...a _man_. Or something.

He angles his hips and a sound tears from her throat that makes him kiss her there and move his hand back up her body so his thumb brushes against her nipple.

She can feel things coming to an end. She's close and she hopes he is, too. "Tyler," she says again, rolling her hips with his. "I'm..._god_."

Talking would be so much easier if he wasn't making it impossible. That doesn't even make sense but she doesn't care.

"Yeah," he says. "Yeah, me, too."

Her nails scratch his scalp lightly as he changes up his rhythm and he sets his hand on her ass again, kneading the flesh almost hard enough to hurt. It doesn't, though, just makes her feel incredible. Then he lifts her up a little bit as he thrusts into her, and she's never felt anything so good in her entire life. Never. She takes gasping breaths and her eyes close. He licks her pulse point at her neck and she feels everything starting to unravel, swept away by her orgasm. She hears him grunt and he buries himself inside her as deeply as he can, then he says her name and he's letting go, too, and if she wasn't only just starting to come down, it'd probably be enough to make her come again.

"Holy shit," he says against her collarbone, breathing heavily. He's still inside her and she doesn't want him to move yet. "That was..."

"I know," she whispers, tugging at his earlobe with her teeth before letting her lips travel to his temple. "I know."

She giggles a little bit, though she's not sure why, when he buries his face against her chest and kisses her between her breasts. He moves up so he's face to face with her again and he's smiling right before he kisses her. He makes a noise when she shifts her hips. Honestly, she could do that again _right now_.

"Fuck. Don't," he says, holding her hip down, hard against the bed.

She whimpers when he pulls out, and she shouldn't find it adorable and sweet and downright sexy, the way he closes her legs for her. Honestly, she's a little boneless right now, and he must feel the same, because he just flops onto his back next to her. It's like he can sense that she's cold or feels alone (or whatever it is she's feeling now that he's not on top of her) because he brings his arm up onto the pillow and rests his hand on her shoulder, pulling her against him.

"Why did you make me wait so long for that?" he asks, and she knows he's not serious, because when she looks at him he's got a stupid grin on his lips. She punches him lightly in the ribs and he laughs and tips her chin up so he can kiss her.

They lay there quietly for a few minutes and she doesn't know what's supposed to happen now. She doesn't want to leave and he's not letting her go, so she thinks maybe it's alright if she doesn't, but she wants to make sure anyway.

"Can I stay?" she asks quietly, running her fingertip up and down his stomach.

He chuckles a bit and pulls her on top of him. "As if I'd let you leave."

It makes her smile more than it should, probably.

... ... ...

She's exhausted and looks like hell in the morning, and she's craving in the worst way. She stands in his bathroom in her bra and panties and tries to think of anything but the fact that if she's too close to him, she can _smell_ him, what's coursing through his veins. She hears footsteps and he pushes the door open. He's completely naked and unashamed, and he's rubbing his eye with his fist when he looks her up and down.

"Hey," he says, smiling sleepily. He walks up behind her and sets his hands on her hips, kissing the side of her neck.

"Hi."

He furrows his brow and looks at her in the mirror. "What?"

"Nothing," she says too quickly. He just stares at her until she explains, which takes all of about two seconds. "I'm hungry." It's quiet and she knows it kind of goes over his head because he says something about bagels as he kisses her skin and nips at her shoulders. "No. Not...Not like that."

He pulls away and looks at her again in the mirror. He puts both arms over her shoulders and locks them there, then seems to be thinking about something before he holds one in front of her mouth, just inches away.

"You want to?" he asks quietly, still looking at her.

"Tyler," she says, shaking her head. "No."

"It's cool," he tells her, pressing against her and pushing her forward until her thighs hit the counter and she's trapped there. She doesn't mind it. Her breathing is heavy and he moves his other hand down her body so it's resting flat on her stomach.

She closes her eyes when she does it so she doesn't have to see his face.

(She takes just a little, just enough to taste and get her home without going crazy. There's barely a mark on his arm.)

After she's dressed and used some mouthwash and convinced him they shouldn't stay in his room all day having sex (though he does put up some valid arguments as he states his case) he tells her he knows how he can get her out of the house without his mom noticing. The place is huge and she's not surprised there are doors and hallways she's never even really noticed before.

The whole thing would go a lot quicker if they didn't stop to kiss or make out every 10 steps.

He's pushing her through one door when they hear a voice behind them and he freezes.

"There's breakfast in the kitchen if you two would like some," his mom says evenly. "Though, Tyler, I'll ask you to put on a shirt if you're going to be eating at the table."

Caroline turns around and looks at Mrs. Lockwood, who's just standing there with her arms crossed and a smile on her face, like she's really not surprised by this at all and doesn't necessarily care.

"I have to go," Caroline explains as politely as she can. She doesn't want to be rude or seem embarrassed. "I have a ton of homework."

Mrs. Lockwood smiles and nods knowingly and says goodbye. Tyler just waits until they're outside before he closes his eyes and shakes his head. There's colour high on his cheeks and Caroline can't help herself. Putting her hands on his hips, she pulls him close to her (to his credit, he ends up pinning her against her car).

"Look who's blushing now," she says, giggling when he rolls his eyes. She kisses him quickly and fishes her keys from her bag. "Bye."

He winks at her and she doesn't know how he's not freezing, but the shirtless thing is really making it hard for her to drive away. She does it anyway, though part of her really wishes she could have stayed.

... ... ...

She should stop him from putting his hand between her legs when they're supposed to be doing homework in her room and her mom is downstairs.

She doesn't, though.

... ... ...

She's wearing this long purple gown and standing in the huge living room of his house with a glass of champagne in her hand. He's talking to some men she recognizes but can't place, and she's with Bonnie and Elena, though things between the three of them have been weird since Caroline turned and Bonnie started dating Elena's brother. Plus, Elena still hasn't picked a brother and they're all kind of annoyed with her for it.

She hears Tyler's laughter cut through the noise in the room and looks over to see him looking at his shoes, a smile on his face. God, that boy looks good in a suit.

"What are you doing?" Elena asks, amused. "Are you eavesdropping?"

Caroline smiles and shrugs her shoulder. "It's not eavesdropping if I just happen to overhear, right?"

The girls all giggle, but she tunes it out in time for her to hear him say something she's not totally sure what to do with.

"Yeah, I was actually just trying to explain that to my girlfriend the other day."

It's hard, because she wants to be his girlfriend so badly. She just doesn't know how it'll really work. They've talked about how she'll never age, and they're still learning about him and the conditions of his...condition. How is she supposed to be in love with someone who might not stay the same age as she will? It's part of the reason she and Matt ended things. Or she ended things with him.

He would have broken up with her eventually.

She doesn't want Tyler to do the same.

... ... ...

She's not avoiding him, she's just not talking to him.

He seems to think those two things are the same, and they're really not.

"Caroline," he says, sounding annoyed and grabbing her elbow tightly. "Come on. You've been acting like this since the party. What the hell?"

"Nothing!"

"Yeah, I'd believe you if you hadn't yelled that at me," he says, narrowing his eyes at her.

She sighs and he stares at her, and he probably deserves to know why she's not talking to him and why she hasn't hung out with him in nearly a week. Especially since he considers himself her boyfriend now.

"You called me your girlfriend," she says quietly, and suddenly the parking lot at the Grill doesn't seem like the best place for this conversation. He looks even more confused. "And we're...It's just not that easy."

"Because of..."

"Yes!" she shouts, throwing her hands up. "Exactly because of that. I'm going to be..._this_...forever," she reminds him. He just looks at her. "Tyler, we still don't know...I'm not saying we're gonna, like, live together in the shadows forever or something, but we honestly have no freaking clue how you even _work_. How can we...?"

"Shut up," he groans, cutting her off. Not helping. She's pissed at him already and he's barely spoken. "God, why do you have to make it such a big thing?"

"Because it is one!" He rolls his eyes again and looks away, over her shoulder at nothing. "There are things you don't know. Stuff that...that you can do, and..."

"Yeah," he says quietly. "I know about that stuff." Her eyes snap up to look at him and he shouldn't be grinning, but he is. "You really think I didn't research on my own, too?"

She closes her eyes and he steps towards her. It's dark and the moon is a few nights from being full, and all their friends are inside, including two other ones with super-sensitive hearing who could listen to all of this if they wanted to.

"Then you know why this is really stupid," she says, looking downward. He puts his hand on the side of her hip over her jeans and shakes his head, presses his forehead against hers.

"I wouldn't do that to you and you know it," he tells her. She feels like she might cry. "So what's the big fucking problem?"

She laughs a little bit and blinks away tears. "It's not that easy. I'm...You can't be the only one, you know?" she says, pulling back to look at him so he really understands what she's saying. "You were there when Mason..."

He squeezes her hip and his eyes flash darkly. It's enough to startle her, but she can't pull away. "I won't let anything happen to you," he vows. She believes him because of the way he says it alone. "I sound like an idiot, but I _won't_, Caroline."

She has to kiss him, because he's making her feel a million times better. It's just that maybe he won't hurt her, but it's his instinct to hurt her 'kind'. As much as Damon and even Stefan can piss her off sometimes, she kind of loves them for what they've done for her and what they continue to do for her.

"But it's _in_ you now, Tyler," she says after pressing her lips to his. "It's instinct."

The way he looks at her lets her know that maybe she's said too much. He doesn't move, really, just stares at her like if he does it long enough he'll be able to know everything she knows about everything she knows.

They're okay. She thinks they'll be fine. She wants him and he wants her, and that's enough right now, really.

It's just that there's so much they don't know.

"There are more of you, aren't there?" he asks quietly, darkly, like he doesn't know what to think of it and maybe he doesn't really want to know.

She just looks at him through her lashes and holds his gaze. He doesn't say a word, doesn't do much of anything. He sets his other hand on her hip, though, fingers brushing the back pocket of her jeans. He nods subtly, blows out a breath and looks skyward. She does the same, and she knows they're both thinking about two nights from now.

**_-Fin-_**


End file.
